Woman dies in custody at El Paso County Jail

A woman died in the El Paso County Jail Friday, according to the El Paso County Sheriff's Office.

It's the latest in a string of deaths at the jail immediately following the deadliest year for inmates in about a decade.

The woman who died Friday was not immediately identified by the El Paso County Sheriff's Office, but it said she was unresponsive in her cell when a deputy found her around 5 p.m. That deputy called for help while trying to save her life, the sheriff's office said in a news release Sunday.

Medical staff and Colorado Springs Fire Department crews took over, but the woman was unable to be saved. Her identity and cause of death will be released by the El Paso County Coroner's Office after an autopsy is completed, the sheriff's office said.

No other information was immediately released.

In October last year, Felicia Hudson died in her cell at the El Paso County Jail.

As early as May of last year, 2022 was on pace to be the deadliest year for inmates at the jail in a decade, the Colorado Sun reported at the time.

A man who died in his cell in April was the fourth inmate to die there in 2022 and the seventh in roughly seven months, that report found. 

The jail has not reported more than five in-custody deaths in a single year in more than a decade, according to a Reuters investigation documenting jail deaths across the country. But in October of last year, there were at least seven in 2022 alone, or possibly eight, including Hudson's.

But the jail's problems with inmate safety predate 2022.

In 2020, El Paso County Sheriff's Deputy Christopher Rogers was fired after allegedly assaulting an inmate. Later that year, the sheriff's office was criticized for its COVID safety measures, which apparently led to a spike in cases at the jail.

Inmates at the jail, along with the American Civil Liberties Union, filed a lawsuit against El Paso County Sheriff Bill Elder after that COVID outbreak. An agreement between the parties led to the sheriff's office changing jail policies and implementing COVID safety measures, which then led to a drop in cases.

A request for more information from the sheriff's office and coroner's office was pending Sunday.